Satovcha Municipality
# Satovcha Municipality

Satovcha Municipality is a municipality in southwestern Bulgaria and is one of the municipalities in the Blagoevgrad Province.

## Geography

It covers the Southwestern Rhodope Mountains. 14 settlemements belong to the municipality with a total of 18,997 inhabitants (21.07.05) and a territory of 334,245 $km^2.$ Administrative, industrial and cultural center of the municipality is the village of Satovcha.

## Population

As of December 2018, there are 14,263 inhabitants living in the municipality of Satovcha, down from 18,265 inhabitants in 2000. The municipality of Satovcha has a Muslim majority (over 85% of the total population). Nearly all of them are Bulgarian Muslims (on the contrary, most Muslims in Bulgaria are ethnic Turks).

| | Population | Live births | Deaths | Natural growth | Birth rate (‰) | Death rate (‰) | Natural growth rate (‰) |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2000 | 18,265 | 204 | 130 | 74 | 11.2 | 7.1 | 4.1 |
| 2001 | 17,770 | 146 | 156 | -10 | 8.2 | 8.8 | -0.6 |
| 2002 | 17,635 | 186 | 121 | 65 | 10.5 | 6.9 | 3.7 |
| 2003 | 17,576 | 185 | 142 | 43 | 10.5 | 8.1 | 2.4 |
| 2004 | 17,501 | 188 | 122 | 66 | 10.7 | 7.0 | 3.8 |
| 2005 | 17,428 | 181 | 148 | 33 | 10.4 | 8.5 | 1.9 |
| 2006 | 17,318 | 178 | 156 | 22 | 10.3 | 9.0 | 1.3 |
| 2007 | 17,269 | 192 | 158 | 34 | 11.1 | 9.1 | 2.0 |
| 2008 | 17,264 | 216 | 157 | 59 | 12.5 | 9.1 | 3.4 |
| 2009 | 17,152 | 168 | 154 | 14 | 9.8 | 9.0 | 0.8 |
| 2010 | 17,009 | 140 | 143 | -3 | 8.2 | 8.4 | -0.2 |
| 2011 | 15,290 | 135 | 167 | -32 | 8.8 | 10.9 | -2.1 |
| 2012 | 15,138 | 121 | 145 | -24 | 8.0 | 9.6 | -1.6 |
| 2013 | 14,970 | 117 | 169 | -52 | 7.8 | 11.3 | -3.5 |
| 2014 | 14,829 | 138 | 157 | -19 | 9.3 | 10.6 | -1.3 |
| 2015 | 14,681 | 121 | 141 | -20 | 8.2 | 9.6 | -1.4 |
| 2016 | 14,498 | 121 | 142 | -21 | 8.3 | 9.8 | -1.4 |
| 2017 | 14,353 | 93 | 163 | -70 | 6.5 | 11.4 | -4.9 |
| 2018 | 14,263 | 87 | 166 | -79 | 6.1 | 11.6 | -5.5 |

Satovcha has a declining birth rate as young women are moving out of the villages.

### Religion

According to the latest Bulgarian census of 2011, the religious composition, among those who answered the optional question on religious identification, was the following:

Religious composition of Satovcha Municipality

Orthodox Christianity

8.95%

Catholicism

0.00%

Protestantism

0.19%

Islam

85.91%

No religion

0.71%

Prefer not to answer, others and aindefinable

4.24% :

## Settlements in the municipality

* Bogolin
* Dolen
* Fargovo
* Godeshevo
* Kochan
* Kribul
* Osina
* Pletena
* Satovcha
* Slashten
* Tuhovishta
* Vaklinovo
* Valkosel
* Zhizhevo
